What: We’re getting together to watch Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition. This acclaimed new release pulls back the curtain on Charles and David Koch, yanking them out of the shadows and exposing them for what they are: a self-interested, ultraconservative demolition crew hell-bent on crushing the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, and so much more. Will you join us?

I am running for City Council, and would be honored to have your support and your vote this November. There is so much to love about Eureka, and I want to help sustain what IS working now. I also want to see real progress in the following areas:

NATIONAL NEWS:
Troop movements within Iraq have prompted some U.S. government officials to propose an immediate response to those movements. Other officials and pundits are proposing a wider and greater response.

LOCAL NEWS:
Last weekend, many of us enjoyed wonderful oysters on the Arcata Plaza, fish in Trinidad, and baseball in Arcata.
This weekend, let’s tend to the schemes that might destroy the possibility of our children and grandchildren enjoying these delights when they are past military induction age. Join us for PEACE!

Today, it has become increasingly likely that the U.S. government will once again take military action in Iraq. It is urgent that anti-war forces mobilize to tell the Obama Administration that the people of this country completely oppose any new war on Iraq.

The ANSWER Coalition is gearing up for such efforts, and is calling for nationwide demonstrations on Friday, June 20 and Saturday, June 21, as well as emergency actions the day U.S. bombing starts, in the event that it happens before these dates.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld should be arrested and prosecuted for their criminal acts in Iraq. It was the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq that destroyed the country and brought about the current crisis. There is nothing the Pentagon can do with more air strikes and destruction to undo that, or bring about peace now.

We in the anti-war movement fought too long and too hard to prevent and end that illegal and unjust war. We cannot sit by idly today when the Pentagon may be about to open a new chapter in its history of death and destruction.

Madsen states in the affidavit that he repeatedly questioned Day-Wilson about where she got the memo until she named Councilwoman Melinda Ciarabellini.

Madsen writes in the affidavit that he later met with Ciarabellini, and that the councilwoman told him that she didn’t know how the memo had been distributed among city staff. Madsen states Ciarabellini said she had given a copy to Day-Wilson over concern that the memo might spark litigation by those named in the document.

When contacted by the Times-Standard, Ciarabellini declined to comment.

Madsen’s affidavit also recounts his conversation with then-Community Development Director Rob Wall about the email, which is also referred to as a “hit list.” Madsen’s affidavit states that Wall told the councilman that Day-Wilson provided both him and Personnel Director Gary Bird a copy of the memo at a meeting, and that Wall was later approached by Day-Wilson and asked to say he read the document after seeing a copy on her desk while waiting for her. Wall refused to comply, the affidavit said.

The declaration and an accompanying six-page investigative report, both of which Madsen apparently made a top priority during the last months of his battle with lung disease, were delivered by certified mail to the city on June 5 by Daniel Cooper, Madsen’s probate attorney. Together, the documents shed new light on an apparently toxic environment in city hall and a rift on the city council. And they raise serious questions about Day-Wilson’s honesty, ethics and job performance.

“Mr. Madsen requested that I provide this information to the city council after his death so that its present members would follow through on the investigation his declining health prevented him from completing,” reads a cover letter to the city from Cooper. “Mr. Madsen’s request also directed that I allow his family ‘private time’ to grieve and adjust to his passing before this affidavit was delivered to the city council.”
Madsen, who resigned his post with the council in December due to his prolonged battle with lung disease, was in hospice care when he signed the affidavit on March 6. He died April 5.

To All California Residents (apologies to those of you outside of CA — Humboldt County letter at bottom):

Call to action:

This is the worst kind of sleaze. The voters of California overwhelmingly voted down Prop 16 and now PG&E and the other large utilities have come up with this tactic to achieve their same goal, that of hindering the success of “Community Choice” energy, which would allow you to choose the source of your electricity independently from your local corporate utility.

Also contact Governor Jerry Brown <govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php> 916/445-2841
and ask for his veto of this bill, if the State Senate sells us out as the State Assembly already has, and passes AB 2145.

Assembly Bill (AB) 2145, proposed legislation now being considered by the State Senate, threatens all Community Choice energy programs in California. The large corporate utilities (PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E) are attempting to crush competition.

AB 2145 will change the rules to make it impossible to establish viable Community Choice energy programs, thus cementing the utility monopolies.

Community Choice energy is one of the most powerful solutions available to local governments to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. AB 2145 represents a backwards step for California’s leadership. Please don’t let utilities stamp it out.

Keep up the pressure. Call and email your state Senator!

Your voice is needed NOW to protect choice and our clean energy future.

For more information:
<www.clean-coalition.org/connect/blog>
<cleantechnica.com/2014/05/06/californias-ab-2145-threatens-community-choice-aggregates>
No on 2145
No on 2145

…and then spread it to your networks!
Join the growing numbers working to defeat AB 2145.

Californians were victorious in the David vs. Goliath fight when the utilities spent millions on Proposition 16 in 2010 to try to stop Community Choice. We can unite again and defeat AB 2145 if we act fast and think big!

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is a method authorized by California state law that allows communities (cities and counties) to choose the source of their electricity independently from their local utility. With CCA, a community can, for instance, have a higher percentage of their electricity come from local and renewable sources than what is currently provided by their local utility.

When a CCA goes into operation customers are sent multiple notices about the CCA and, if they choose, how to stay with their existing utility. If the customer takes no action they will automatically be switched to the local CCA group.

Marin County’s CCA group, “Marin Clean Energy”, has been in operation for about two years and has allowed Marin County residents to have a significantly higher percentage of renewable energy than PG&E.

A CCA for Sonoma County, “Sonoma Clean Power”, recently started.

For the past 10 years citizens in Humboldt County have been investigating CCA for our county. CCA is unanimously supported by the Arcata City Council and is also supported by the Redwood Coast Energy Authority Board, which represents all the jurisdictions of Humboldt County. The City of Arcata staff has been actively researching CCA for the past two years and has been in talks with Marin and Sonoma to join one of their groups.

PG&E, which claims to be neutral about CCA, has actively worked to undermine the formation of any CCA’s to maintain PG&E’s monopoly and prevent competition

In 2010, PG&E created Proposition 16 that would have made forming a CCA virtually impossible by a requiring a 2/3 public vote to create a CCA rather than the existing requirement of a majority vote by a local government.

PG&E spent $46 million in an unsuccessful effort to pass Proposition 16

PG&E’s current campaign to kill CCA’s is AB 2145. AB 2145 would require that to be a member of a CCA a customer would need to actively “opt-in” to the CCA. Since taking no action is easier than taking an action, active opt-in rates tend to be less than 20%. which is too low to make a CCA viable. Under the banner of “freedom” and “consumer choice” PG&E is pushing a clever way to kill any new CCA’s.

AB 2145 passed the Assembly (with Chesbro voting “no”). AB 2145 has now moved over to the state Senate and is first coming before the Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee, which is chaired by Senator Alex Padilla, who will be in a run-off for Secretary of State in November.

We urge each of you to write Senator Padilla and Senator Evans and urge them to protect local community choice and oppose AB 2145. I also urge you to write Governor Brown and urge him to veto AB 2145 if it passes the Senate.